Borderline with Gary Borders

Each week Gary offers a variety of observations and personal experience in a highly engaging commentary from East Texas. Join us for Borderline with Gary Borders in his new time slot, Fridays at 7:45 a.m.

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7:45am

Commentary

I am a word nerd. Etymology fascinates me. I try not to use 50-cent words when a dime’s worth will do, but sometimes I can’t resist tossing in a word that might not be used in everyday conversation. I have learned the hard way to double-check anytime I venture into territory commonly occupied by the likes of George Will.

7:35am

Commentary

I was taking a photograph of a city worker installing new banners along the light poles downtown the other day and humming along to a Bee Gees song as the music wafted through the square. It was coming from the Titus County courthouse, from the speakers installed along the roof. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue after the storm passed through, and it finally felt like autumn. I really wanted to just sit down on a bench, listen to the music and enjoy the cool air, but work beckoned.

7:35am

Commentary

I wandered through the livestock arena at the Titus County Fair recently. Participants were grooming their steers, fluffing up their hair with industrial-strength blow dryers. It was warm and aromatic, a familiar smell of bovines and sawdust wafting through the afternoon. Being at a livestock show evokes fond memories of my two older daughters — both now in their 30s — and their forays into animal husbandry.

7:34am

Commentary

I met Harley Clark in 2005 while attending a 50th anniversary celebration in Austin of the “Hook ’em Horns” sign. His buddy invented it one night while making shadow figures on the wall of a dorm room. Clark, who was the University of Texas head cheerleader in 1955, introduced the sign to the world at a pep rally. He unilaterally proclaimed the symbol for the Longhorns was now the official hand signal of the university.

7:35am

Commentary

We met six-and-a-half years ago at Pizza King in Longview on a spring Saturday afternoon. She had a cheese pizza. Mine was veggie, extra jalapeños. Her blond hair and cherubic face with flawless skin captured my heart.

As we sat down, she held one of the Harry Potter novels in her arms like a shield. She was 10 and eyed me warily. Who is this funny little man coming into my life, she no doubt wondered.

Abbie is the daughter of the woman who would become my wife. Now she is my daughter as well, and I am blessed.